# Butane Lighter won't light



## Yansee

Today is my birthday, so I go out with a few buds and decide to light up a cigar to celebrate. My lighter works for the first one, but the next click, nothing... click again, nothing... again, nothing. I can hear the butane leaking out when I pull down the button, and I can see the sparker working. So, I purged it and refilled it (it's a Nibo and I'm using Nibo fluid). Click again, nothing. If I click it really fast a whole bunch of times, the butane in the air will eventually ignite... pretty cool to see a big fireball... but the lighter still won't light. I purged and refilled a total of 3 times with no success. I did a search and came up with no answers. Anyone have any idea's?

EDIT: The flame height is set to the highest as well.


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## OtterAKL4987

I am no expert by any means, but I think there is a quartz of some sort that sparks the flame and may just need to be replaced. But again, no expert.

EDIT: found this bit of info on thetobaccoshop.com:
Quartz lighters not sparking: 

At times your quartz butane lighter may not spark and ignite the butane when you depress the ignition button. (You know the clicker) If you hear a click, then the quartz is working. If you do not hear a click when you depress the ignition button, then buy a new lighter this one is dead.


Look and see if the lighter is sparking. Please be careful and keep the lighter away from your face when you try this. It may ignite and burn you.


If the lighter is sparking, then check to see if it is sparking towards the butane release valve. If it is not sparking towards the butane release valve, this is why the lighter doesn't work. The spark is not igniting the butane. Again, using a small screwdriver readjust the electrode. (The electrode, as I call it, is the little wire where the spark comes out). Be careful and adjust the electrode wire towards the middle where the butane release valve is. Little adjustments are all that is needed. After each adjustment, try lighting the lighter. If you break the electrode, buy a new lighter, this one is broken.


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## Linder

Any chance the butane was still cold?


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## WyoBob

As an experiment, try depressing the "sparker" and lighting the lighter with another flame source. Does the defective lighter light? Does it have a "normal" looking flame? Does the flame go out when you remove the external source? If it won't stay lit, I'd expect a fuel/air mixture problem.

You may have crud in the "jets" and the fuel/air mixture may be off. Some of my lighters do this on occasion. I use a Qtip with acetone and swab the burner. I'll even pour a little acetone into the burner and then blow out with compressed air. If I can't get the lighter going, I purge the butane/air from the lighter and refill and try it again. If it's a no-go, into the trash it goes.

WyoBob


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## jjefrey

Linder said:


> Any chance the butane was still cold?


Does the cold affect butane?

I've never noticed this before.


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## shaggy

the only time i have had a problem like this is when i am using cheapo fluid...make sure it is at least 3 times refined

other than that i got nothin.....


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## Da Klugs

Purge is a relative term. Sometimes you need to depress the fill valve with a blunt object letting the tank release for a loooooong time. Try it again but hold it up to your ear and keep "purging" till no sound + 30 seconds.

Refill and put the lighter in your pocket for 15 minutes. IF it doesn't work.. turn the flame down a bit and try again.

If it still doesnt work.. buy a Blazer.


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## sailchaser

I have cleaned the electrodes with acetone and xylthene and straighten and aligned the tips.A welder tip cleaner works well to make sure the fuel supply port is clear.It also works at cleaning the fill valve.Cleaning them it takes a lot of Patience but I can usually make them work.If not deep six it and buy a blazer or equivalent.:2Good Luck


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## brigey

Linder said:


> Any chance the butane was still cold?


*I have noticed in the colder weather that my lighters react in a similar way. Once I bring them back into the house and warm them up in my pockets for a few minutes then they function just fine. If left on the railing while I enjoy my cigar then they cannot be used again until they reach the normal operating temperature. *


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## Yansee

The fluid is the Nibo lighter refill fluid. Says it's refined 3 times. Pisses me off cuz I've only used it to light 2 cigars and now it doesn't work. Woulda been perfect for tonite. Cold and windy outside and we were trying to use a disposable lighter and no one could get a good burn going.
When I purge it, I make sure there is no hissing sound before I refill it.
The electrode is sparking right over top of one of the openings (it's a dual flame) and I still get nothing. I can hear and smell the gas escaping when I hold the button down. 
I've cleaned it and I still get nothing.
Any other idea's? I was thinking about sending it away for warranty but the warranty card says it's void if sold outside of the US... so there goes that idea.


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## bobarian

brigey said:


> *I have noticed in the colder weather that my lighters react in a similar way. Once I bring them back into the house and warm them up in my pockets for a few minutes then they function just fine. If left on the railing while I enjoy my cigar then they cannot be used again until they reach the normal operating temperature.
> *


I agree cold does seem to affect some lighters. At our last herf, MikeyB had problems with his Blazer that had been left sitting out on the table. He used my trusty Ronson that had been in my jacket pocket and it worked fine.

Does the lighter stay lit when you use another flame to light it? Try adjusting the flame control all the way up and purging for a few seconds, then try on full blast. The multi jets seem to really want a lot of fuel to get going.


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## sandsman1

i have a lighter that wont work all the way up or too low it has to be right where it likes it and it will light everytime try messin with the flame hight see if it lights at dif levels


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## gamayrouge

sandsman1 said:


> i have a lighter that wont work all the way up or too low it has to be right where it likes it and it will light everytime try messin with the flame hight see if it lights at dif levels


x2 :tu


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## seegarfan

I borrowed some info from another forum that may be of benefit to anyone having trouble with butane lighters.

It addresses purging and adjusting the lighters preset factory limits. I offer this info with no guarantees, but I have found it effective. If some else does that's great.

I have also found that a lot of the problems can be eliminated by using the best butane you can. I use LAVA FUEL...it has been refined 5 TIMES.

Here is the copied material:

Adjusting the factory presets:

I discovered that the torch lighters have a limit on their adjustment pre-set by the factory, and after you re-fill them the first time, somehow the flame just isn't as big anymore. I took the screw out of the bottom that holds the housing on, and removed the housing exposing the tank and the flame adjustment screw. The screw has a tiny rubber gasket on it. Remove the gasket carefully (you're going to put it back on), and you will see a brass or steel ring that is fitting over the adjustment screw and is slotted so that it turns with the screw. This ring has a stop on it so that it hits against the plastic around the adjustment screw and keeps it from turning past the factory pre-set limit. Lift off this ring with a jewelers screwdriver (need one to get this far actually) and you can extend the limit range of the flame adjuster. Play with the adjustment until you are satisfied with the maximum height of the flame. Reinstall the limit ring so that it sits exactly like it did before you removed it. Reinstall the rubber gasket that holds the limit ring in place. Reinstall the housing and voila, your lighter works like it did when it was new.

I did this with some S.T. Dupont Extend knockoffs, and a Colibri Retro, so I think the design of these things is probably mostly similar.

Purging and refilling:

The trick is to take a plain Phillips screw driver and push it up the hole you put the juice in and it will let all the stuff out so you can start over. Adjusted the flame and A OK. 
Doing this technique is one that should be performed each time you refill a lighter. Doing that bleeds off what pressure is left in the lighter.

Refilling the lighter with_OUT_ bleeding off the excess pressure may prevent your lighter from working because the excess pressure coming out with the fluid can actually cause the flame to snuff out. Have you ever tried to light a lighter and you see flame for a fraction of a second then it goes out? That is the result of having too much pressure.

The other thing you should do every two to three (if not every) refills is give your lighter a C-A-B-J, a compressed air blow job.

Using a can of compressed air that you would buy for blowing dust out of electrical equipment, aim the plastic wand or nozzle at the ignition area of the lighter. Give it 3-4, one-two second blasts of compressed air. This will blow out ashes and other crud which prevents the lighter from operating properly. Let the lighter warm up for a few minutes before attempting to use it after a CABJ.

I hope this info may be of help to someone.

Mark


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## Dgar

Another vote for using the "GOOD" fluid. I have four or five lighters, and all seem to work much better after switching to Vector it's filtered five times, no more fighting with moody lighters. ( Vector fluid can be found at William Sonoma, ~6$ a can.


I agree with turning down the flame adjustment, I've also have had trouble if it's set to high.

Also I confess, I do not purge my lighters, I've had my Dupont X-Tend a couple years, never purged, or used compressed air... but it lights everytime.
Am I the only one that dosent need to purge thier lighter.


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## dalerobk

I had this same thing happen to a fairly cheap torch lighter. It suddenly just stopped working. I bought a new lighter, which I really like, and some Vector 5x refined butane. A few weeks later, I went to throw away my old lighter away and decided to give it one last shot and amazingly it worked. I now use it as a backup. No idea how to explain it, but you might want to let it sit for a couple weeks and use matchs. Then come back to it and see if it works again.


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## Yansee

I took it apart to try pulling the stop off of the flame-height adjustment screw and noticed that one of the lines feeding the burners is not attached. I re-attached it and voila... she works perfect.

Thanks for all the advice... this was really driving me nuts. :tu


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